Lead pipe



(No Model.)

- P. LANGHAMMER.

LEAD PIPE.

Patented May 16, 1882.

To all whom it may concern:

.U rTED I STATES PATE T OFFICE.

PAUL LANGHAMMER, OF DENVER, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND CHARLES. SIEDLER, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY.

LEAl) PIPE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 258,082, dated May 16, 1882.

- Application filed April 1, isi. [No model.)

Be it known that I, PAUL LANGHAMMER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Denver, in the county ofArapahoe, State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements Relating to Lead Pipes, of which the following is a specification.

There have been various eiforts to produce an insoluble stratum on the interiors of lead pipes. Sofar as my knowledge extends all have been failures previous to mine. I subject the lead pipe immediately after its manufacture, and while it retains its original heat, to treatment which changes a considerable thickness of the inner portion of the metal and puts it in a condition not liable to be in the least afl'ected by any kind of water or other ordinary fluid which may pass through or stand in it. The pipe after my treatment may be bent and rebent to the fullest extent ever required in putting the pipe in use, and 'the condition of the interior and of the whole pipe remains unaffected for an indefinite period. My process can be worked in the large way with little labor or skill. V

The following is a descriptionof whatI consider the best means of carrying out the invention.

The accompanying drawings form a part of this specification.

Figure I is a general section of the entire apparatus, certain portions beingin elevation. Fig.2 is on alarger scale- It is a cross-section of my lead pipe after being treated.

Similarletters of reference indicate like parts in the figures.

M is the main body of the leadpipe. M is my insoluble layer, which is formed on the interior thereof. I will designate the previous condition of the pipe, when necessary, by the single letter M.

A is a car supporting a length of freshlymade lead pipe, M, in its properly-coiled condition, ready for packing and transportation, except that the ends are straightened s6 as to stand a little out from the coil. 1 temporarily connectby strong clamps 1 the two stop-cocks J J and hose K K. The hose K leads away to a tank. (Not represented.) The hose K leads to a drain for waste water. To the lower end of the coil I correspondingly attach by 257Fahrenheit and the corresponding pressure. The hose F leads from the street-main or from a suitable elevated reservoir, E, supplying pure water.

Operation: I take on the carA the lead pipe M, in a chemically-clean condition, fresh fronithe dies or apparatus in which it is pro duced, and, having the ends properly extended, connect the clamps H and I totherespective ends, open the cooks Grand J, and provide for keeping the whole at the temperature of 257 Fahrenheit. The solution from the boiler E rapidly fills the pipe M, driving out the air through the hose K. So soon as the dense solution commences to be delivered from K, I close the stop-cock J, and leave the solution under full pressure in the pipe.

It is essential to success that the heat and pressure be maintained for a considerable time. I attain this end and insure that there shall be a change in a portion of the thickness of the lead, beginning at the extreme surface on the inner side and gradually diminishing. This changeshould be produced to a depth of about one-fourth of the thickness of the pipe, gradually growing less and less as the chemicals under, the considerable pressure and high tem peratureact successively on the several particles or layers of lead from the interior outward. In order to maintain the pressure, it is simply necessary to keep open the cock G;

but in order to maintain the temperature for the considerable time required further provisions are necessary. 7

L is a casing or oven, of masonry or other material, maintained at a high temperature by gases from the boiler-furnace or otherwise. It receives and surrounds the entire car A with its lload, a proper door (not shown) being provided to allow the car A and its load to move in and out. This oven holds the temperature to the proper point. If the pipe, in consequence of its being brought too soon from the manufacturing apparatus, possesses too much of its original heat, its temperatureis soon IOO lowered. If, by any chance, its temperature is too low, itlis raised by the oven and held to the propertemperature during the considerable time that the treatment is continued. After from ten to fifteen minutes, or when a suffieient time has elapsed so that I am certain that an insoluble conditionhas been induced in a considerable thicknessof the interior of the pipe, I close the stop-cock G and open the stop-cocks G J, allowing a stream of pure water to fiow through the pipe for a sufficient time to force out into a suitable receptacle (not shown) the solution which remains uncom-' bined, after which I open J close J, and allow the water to flow to waste through the pipe K. Then I close the stop-cocks G and J, disconnect the clamps H and I, and move away the car with itspipe and bring another and repeat the round of operations,

The solution which: I employ is sulphate of potassium.- This is dissolved in water, and forms: a nearly or: quite saturated solution. Theaction in the lead pipes combines some of the-sulphur with the inner face of the lead, forminginsol-uble sulphate of lead;

K is. partly deprived of itssulphur, and is largelyvasoluztionof caustic potash. Thismay be-coneentrated by boiling and returned to the manufacturer; tozaid in the production of more sulphate ofpotassium, or, by the addition ofpropert-elemcnts, may probably be changed at once'zintovar solution of the required strengthtotbe pumpedxinto the-boiler E. It will be un-' derstood tthat'the first portion of the discharge is allowedtto flow through the hose K into the tanlr an'dthat after the main portion of the partly-spentt'solution has been thus discharged the other stop cock,- J, is opened, and momentarilythedischarge will be'through both; but' as soon as practicable after the cock J l isopenthe cock J is-closed.

Myth'eory of the'ch-emical reactionsoccurringintheworking-ofmy -process may not be important, but: I believe that of the 'th ree lead sulphides indicated,PbS,which-' ishighl y crystalline, Pb s, which isalso-crystalline, and the Pb S, which isasoftandse1ni-metallic, my treatment develops: the latterinstead of either of the-former. Pb S is-sufficien-tly insoluble underallsordinary conditions to serve for domestie and .m-anu-taeturin grpurposeswith all kindsof waterwhichoccun inrnature, or any other fluidswhioh are.- li'kely to be passed through The so-- lution which is discharged through the hose my pipe in ordinary business. Its superior flexibility allows it to be quite thick without seriously affecting the fitting of'the pipe in all the different bends which are required in practice, and its thickness and its intimate union with, and, as I believe, blending into, the metallic partremainingunaffected' insure against its ever being detached from the interior of the pipe by bending or other causes.

I-believ-e that the'iuvention may be worked successfully using'a solution of sulphide of potassium instead of sulphate. This is especially expedient in cases where the lead contains an unusual proportion of" ant-imony or copper; but I prefer the sulphate, as described, for-lead of ordinary purity.

Iclaim asmy invention- 1. The-processof filling lead pipe with a solution of sulphate of potassium and holding it therein under pressure at a temperature of about 257' Fahrenheit, so as to'produce the highly-metalline sulphate composed of four atoms-of lead to one of sulphur'in the inner and lining portion, as'setforth;

2.'1he' apparatus described, havingthe boiler E, hose F, cock G, clampsfl l, cock. J,

hose K, and oven I), for-subjecting the-interior of the pipe M-to a solution at high temperature andunder pressure, in" combination with the reservoir or main E, hoseF, cocksG J and hose K, forconvenientlyremoving the uncombined particles of the solution, as herein specified.

In testimony whereof I' have hereuntoset my hand, at New York city, this 23d day of March, 1881, in the presence-0t two subscribing witnesses.

P. LANGHAMMER;

Witnesses:

M. F. BOYLE, CHARLES U. STETsoN, 

